Nestled in suburban Kansas City, the Vikings of Shawnee Mission West High School are a tight, supportive community. That strong foundation of community ushered the students through the separate events of four deaths during the school year when I was the principal.

Though a sedentary life can lead to many disease, it alone is not a disease. It's a behavior. And that means it's most definitely one you can change, even if you drive a desk for a living and love watching television at night.

Picture this: Your life's going normally, maybe even awesomely, when suddenly, it happens -- something huge, something heavy, something that shoves your world into a blender. And weirdly, it does not come with a manual on how to cope. Now what?

We have had five nor'easters in a month and nearly four feet of snow are still piled high here in the boondocks of eastern Connecticut. Throw in arctic temperatures, ice, wind, the monotony of a gray-and-white landscape, and cabin fever, and even a resilient Yankee heart can sink.

The fact is, there's no easy answer for money worries. Earning enough to support yourself or your family, spending what you do have wisely, saving enough for college, retirement, and more--those are serious, real concerns.

I am remarkably not musically inclined, can't keep a beat, and have a wonderful case of stage fright. I pushed through it all, and threw myself into learning the songs as best I could. I have grown so much both as a person, and as a musician. I've discovered making music is very much like life.

Weight loss doesn't have to be a single, radical, excruciating ordeal. Positive long-term changes don't happen like that. Instead, think of it as reshaping the little moments of your life to make space for weight loss. The physical and mental strength and resilience you gain is well worth this subtle but powerful effort.

Ask business leaders what keeps them up at night, and often, they'll say they wonder what their legacy will be. U.S. presidents are no different. They all want to know how their actions will be remembered.

While there is certainly benefit to making mindfulness a consistent formal practice, creating any new habit along these lines enables caretakers to remain more resilient themselves. A few breaths when shifting from one discussion with a family to the next is a mindfulness practice.

We recently learned that 2014 was the hottest year on earth since record keeping began in 1880. Now more than ever, we need to rethink the ways we conceive of climate change and what we can do to get out in front of its impact on us, our families, and our communities.

While it's no secret that sustained levels of stress are not good for your health, there is more to the stress story than "stress is bad." As it turns out, how you perceive stress is just as important as the amount of stress you're experiencing.

Exuberance, joy, laughter and optimism come naturally when we are young. The experiences of those feelings are forever stored in the reservoirs of memory. Wisdom earned through the trials of time gives us all the more reason to hold in a tight embrace the uplifting and awesome moments as they occur.

When I asked him how he was able to rebound, he simply said that he noticed himself slipping and didn't like it. So he decided to change. He was only in 4th grade! No therapy, no coaches, no self help books, no medication. He just decided to change and did the work to make it happen.

Notes come home from school reminding me to pack a snack for my child. Sign-up sheets for snack rotations are circulated for team sports. A two-hour swim at the pool with friends includes crackers, two kinds of fruit, pizza, cupcakes and two kinds of beverages (I am not exaggerating.)

At the end of year I took a good hard look at who had exhibited considerable resilience in 2014, and made a list of my favorites. Not only do they serve as great examples of great empathy, optimism, self-efficacy, hope and initiative; they also are the most likely to flourish in the next year.

Whatever your practice might be, I hope that it involves training in compassion. Now, with all the challenges we face in the world, we can be confident that kindness and compassion are the bedrock of personal and social change.

Making a dream come true is a long, laborious process. It requires incredible patience and resilience. Choose a dream for which the work is something you can see yourself getting up for every morning, because to make a dream come true you'll have to be willing to work harder and more strategically and with more focus, discipline, and dedication than anyone else.

With the new year, what I feel in addition to excitement is a renewed confidence in my community, a belief that no matter what comes or what the future holds, we can make it, because we made it through last year.